Prior heat exchanging apparatuses have been equipped with a gas-liquid separator, which has a vertical or horizontal cylinder tank.
As shown in FIG. 4, a vertical type gas-liquid separator 51 has an inlet 51c on one side. The inlet 51c is connected to heat exchangers 53 through a flash valve 54. Also, the gas-liquid separator 51 has outlets 51a and 51b on its top and bottom respectively. The outlets 51a and 51b are connected to the heat exchangers 53 through mixers 52 which are incorporated into the heat exchangers 53 respectively. Accordingly, the discharged refrigerant from the heat exchangers 53 is adiabaticly expanded by the flash valve 54, and gets to the tank 51 where the refrigerants are separated into gas and liquid. Then the gas and liquid of the refrigerants are mixed together by the mixers 52 which are incorporated into the heat exchangers 53 respectively. Finally, the refrigerants are equally distributed to the heat exchangers 53 again.
As shown in FIG. 5, a horizontal type gas-liquid separator has an inlet 51c on the top of a tank 51. The inlet 51c is connected to heat exchangers 53 through a flash valve 54. Also the gas-liquid separator 51 has outlets 51a and 51b on its top and bottom respectively. The outlets 51a and 51b are connected to the heat exchangers 53 through mixers 52 which are incorporated into the heat exchangers 53 respectively. Accordingly, the discharged refrigerant from the heat exchangers 53 is adiabaticly expanded by the flash valve 54, and gets to the tank 51 where the refrigerant is separated into gas and liquid. Then the gas and liquid of the refrigerants are mixed together by the mixers 52 which are incorporated into the heat exchangers 53 respectively. Finally, the refrigerants are equally distributed to the heat exchangers 53 again.
However, the above-prior heat exchanging apparatus which equips the heat exchangers 53 and the vertical type gas-liquid separator in a hollow body requires a common pipe which joints the distribution pipes to the gas-liquid separator for distributing the refrigerants to the plurality of heat exchangers 53 because it is difficult for many pipes which are connected to the gas-liquid separator to be set up in a plane. Moreover, the vertical type gas-liquid separator tends to have a bigger diameter than the horizontal type gas-liquid separator because it has a larger sectional area for gas phase flowing up in the gas-liquid separator. Therefor the prior heat exchanging apparatus having the vertical type gas-liquid separator in the hollow body has a problem of the hollow body being large in size.
Also, the above-prior heat exchanging apparatus which equips the heat exchangers 53 and the horizontal type gas-liquid separator in a hollow body has some problems. When a horizontally longer type of gas-liquid separator is applied, the pipes for distributing to the plurality of heat exchangers 53 are decreased in number and a larger sectional area for gas phase flowing up is obtained in its smaller diameter than the vertical type gas-liquid separator. But a fluctuation range of a liquid level is limited. Therefore, the above-prior heat exchanging apparatus having the horizontal type gas-liquid separator in a hollow body has a problem in its operation. Moreover, when different kinds of refrigerants are applied, the different kinds of refrigerants have to be uniformly mixed in each of gas and liquid phases as well as a separation gas from liquid before distributing the refrigerants to the plurality of the heat exchangers 53. Nevertheless, as the horizontal type gas-liquid separator is long in a horizontal direction, it may cause a non-uniformity of the refrigerant's components at each of the pipes connected to the plurality of heat exchangers 53 respectively.